A Ranger's Halo
by The Airman
Summary: Perez has to face the dangers of the ringworld. MC will make a brief appearance every now and again, but dont expect much Spartan action. BUNGIE OWNS ALL! cept for perez, he's mine.
1. Chapter 1

**UNSC Vessel **_**The Pillar of Autumn**_

**In orbit over gas giant Threshold**

**Date:Error 27-B/ Time:Error 27-B**

Corporal Perez was riding shotgun with his longtime friend and fellow Ranger Michael Shaunter. They were part of a convoy that was en route to a base in Iraq. But then the ambush came. Lieutenant Emerson was dead. Then a flash, they were stranded in the desert with Sergeant Valderenko, only, he was dead. His Warthog hit a tree on Sigma Octanus. Then another flash, he was battling an Elite, with half of his arm blew apart by a Needler. He opened his mouth to scream but all that came out was the sound of alarms.

Juan Perez awoke to the sounds of the alarms that were going off all over the ship. He jumped out of his cot, and grabbed his rifle. Captain Keyes came on the ships PA system.

"All hands go to battle stations. Prepare to repel boarders. We'll commence attacking after we pass Threshold. It has been a pleasure serving with the fine men and women who have fought for this ship. Good luck and God speed. Keyes out."

Perez saw Hightower and called to him.

"What the hell is goin on private?" he asked.

"I dunno sir, all I know is we're bein told to report to Sergeant Johnson. He's gonna brief us in."

"Ok lets go find him." Perez said.

"Ummmm sir?"

"What's up Hightower?" he asked.

"Where's your clothes?"

Perez looked down and saw that he was in nothing but boxers.

"I'll be right back." He said.

Perez went off, then came back five minutes later fully clothed in his custom Ranger's uniform. He joined Hightower and they went searching for Johnson. They heard the good Sergeant finishing an inspiring speech to a group of Marines.

"Am I right Marines?" he finished.

"Yes sir!" they all answered.

He started walking, "All you greenhorns who wanted to see Covenant up close, today is your lucky day."

"Sir!" Perez saluted.

Sergeant looked Perez over, "Well I'll be damned!" he laughed, "I haven't seen you since we found you boys in Iraq!"

Johnson looked around, "Where's Valderenko and Shaunter?" he asked.

Perez's gaze fell to the floor, "They died, we lost Valderenko at Sigma Octanus IV, and Shaunter at Reach."

Johnson swore, "So you're the last Ranger huh?"

"Yes sir, keeping the tradition alive."

Johnson grunted approval. He looked around, "Look, I need some help here, I'm gonna be helpin out all these rookies so I need you patrol the ship help any swabbies to escape pods."

"How bout I just get my happy Latino ass to the escape pods and forget about the swabbies, all they do is get in the way anyway."

Johnson laughed, "Yeah, but we might need em for cover when we land."

Perez shook his head and laughed, "Never thought about it that way."

Johnson pointed to Perez's rifle, "You still use that old thing?" he asked.

Perez patted his M-16 lovingly, "It's gotten me out of more than one tight spot, just like my .357."

"Whatever, if you ever need to replace that piece, come talk to me." Johnson said.

"Roger that sir." Perez turned and motioned to Hightower, "Come on 'mano, lets get outta here."

"Rangers lead the way." Hightower joked and stepped aside.

"Damn right we do."

Perez and Hightower made there way into the corridors of the _Pillar of Autumn_. Explosions rocked the ship.

"What the hell was that?" Hightower asked.

Perez looked around, "Dunno, felt like somethin just hit us."

Perez went down a corridor marked Cryo. The door slid open to reveal two black armored Elites.

"Shit!" Perez dropped to his knee and fired at the nearest alien. The Elite snarled and brought its weapon up. Hightower primed a grenade and threw it at the aliens. The two Elites tried to dive out of the way, but had nowhere to go. The grenade detonated and blew the two Elites apart.

Cortana's voice came on the PA, "Attention all personnel, we are abandoning ship, please make your way to the escape pods, good luck."

"Well, lets go then shall we?" Hightower asked.

Perez took the lead again and made their way to a flight of stairs. They made it to the very top and were ambushed by a squad of Elites and Grunts. Perez swore and opened fire on the nearest Grunt. The rounds tore through the aliens' tank and caused it to spin around like a top as the air hissed out.

A squad of Marines arrived and joined in the firefight. Bullets and plasma flew and soldiers began to fall. Perez inserted his last clip into his M-16 and fired at a gold armored Elite. The Elite's shields shimmered then flared as they died. Perez aimed for the Elite's head, and fired. The rounds tore through its skull and the Elite collapsed in a heap.

Perez looked to see how the rest of the Marines were doing, and saw that it wasn't going very well for the good guys. Hightower had managed to get a small fire team together, but they were getting hammered by heavy plasma fire.

Just when things were getting bad, a Spartan entered the fray. Perez had only seen a Spartan once before on Sigma Octanus. It had saved his ass then, and it probably was gonna save his now. Sure enough, Perez was firing on a blue Elite when his rifle clicked empty, the Elite roared in triumph, and moved in for the kill, then collapsed to the floor revealing the Spartan behind it.

"Thanks" Perez said.

The Spartan nodded, then continued on. Perez looked around and scavenged some ammunition from some fallen Marines. He hated to do it, but it had to be done.

"I say it's a lucky break that those clips fit into your gun." Hightower noted.

"You're not the only one who's noticed that." Perez said.

Hightower grunted, and they continued to the escape pods, stopping every now and then to fight their way through Elites and Grunts. They arrived at the pods, weary, and covered in the blood of their enemies. The pod ejected and slid into space. Hightower hit Perez on his shoulder and pointed at the ringworld.

"What the hell is that thing Corporal?" he asked.

"I don't, but it looks like we're gonna call home for a while."

"Damn, I need a vacation."

**A/N: Well its time for round two with my ol buddy Perez. Hope this one gets as many good reviews as the first one. Updates may be a lil slow cuz I got a Half Life fic in the works. As for the Arizona story…I don't know if I im gonna finish that one. Anyway, please review and make me happy.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Corporal Juan Perez**

**Halo**

**Time: 0:05 (Arrival on Halo's surface) Date:Error 27-B**

The escape pod burned as it entered the ring world's atmosphere. Inside the pod the Marines, Ranger, and other personnel sweated from the intense heat. Perez looked around at the other occupants of the life boat. Hightower was in the seat next to him, a few Marines had made, only two Naval personnel had made it into this particular boat.

Perez felt a sharp jerk as the ship's brakes deployed, "We hit ground in five!" the pilot called from the front of the lifeboat. Perez gripped his harness as the life boat decelerated sharply and dove toward the ground. The boat landed on the ground spraying dirt in all directions.

The hatch to the lifeboat slid open and Perez unbuckled himself, grabbed his rifle, and stepped outside. He shielded his eyes against the sun, blinked a few times to get accustomed to the light, and looked around.

It looked like they were in a canyon, with two ways in or out. At the edge of the canyon was large hill, with a few rocks. There was also a large structure in the middle of the canyon. It sent up what looked like a flair every few seconds.

"Who's the ranking officer here?" Hightower asked.

"That would be me." A tall black man in a Naval uniform said.

"You gotta be shittin me." Perez said under his breath.

The man turned to Perez and looked him over, "You say something, _Corporal_?"

"Yeah, I asked what your rank is, sir." Perez answered in a normal tone.

"I am Lieutenant Lankers, and I am taking command here."

Hightower glanced at Perez, then back to Lankers.

"No offense _sir_, but I am in command of all tactical units in the immediate area." Perez told Lankers.

Lankers turned to Perez, eyebrow raised, "Is that right?"

"I believe so sir, yes." Perez said.

"Listen you undisciplined ODST, _I'm_ the commanding officer, and _I'm_ in command here, end of discussion." Lankers turned and started to walk away.

"Ranger." Perez called behind him.

Lankers stopped, turned, and walked back to Perez, "Excuse me?"

"I'm not a Helljumper, I'm a Ranger." Perez clarified.

"I don't care what the fuck you are, you will…" He was cut short by a Marine radioing in a contact.

"Enemy dropship inbound!" the Marine yelled.

They all turned around and saw the U-shaped dropship, flanked by two banshee escorts.

"All right everyone in the structure, we'll hold em off there!" Lankers ordered.

"No, we need to head into the hills, we'll be higher up and the rocks will offer better cover." Perez said.

"Do not question my orders soldier!" Lankers yelled at him.

"If anybody wants to make out of here alive follow me!" Perez yelled and turned and started making his way up the hill. Hightower and the rest of the Marines followed Perez. Only Lankers and the other Naval officer were left.

"I'm going to have every single one of you court-martialed, you hear me?" Lankers yelled after them.

"Piss off swabbie!" One of the Marines yelled back.

The dropship descended and opened its side hatches, Grunts, Elites, and Jackals jumped from the hatches on the sides, and ran toward the Marines.

"Why cant they just kill that damn swabbie and leave us the fuck alone?" Hightower yelled.

Perez laughed and shouldered his M-16, "Come on Hightower, nobody deserves bein stuck down there with the good Lieutenant, those Covie bastards would shoot themselves if they had to listen to him!"

Hightower laughed, dropped to a knee, and looked into the scope of his sniper rifle. A second later the gun jerked as a round found its way to the head of an Elite, which disappeared in purple mist.

A group of jackals made their way up the hill, bullets ricocheting of their shields. One of the Jackals leveled their Needler and aimed it at a nearby Marine. The Marine was sighting an Elite through his sniper rifle, but before he could get a shot off the Jackal opened fire and purple shards pierced the Marine, then exploded.

"Fuck!" Perez yelled, primed a grenade, and threw it behind the Jackals; one of them noticed this and dove out of the way, leaving its two comrades in the wake of the blast. Perez ran up to the surviving Jackal, yanked the gun from its hand, and bashed it in its head with his rifle.

He turned the Marine that had been shot. The Marine managed to prop himself up against a rock, sniper rifle still in hand.

"You ok buddy?" Perez asked.

"Not really, no." the Marine answered.

"I'm gonna go get you a medic, hang in there." Perez said then ran off to find the squads medic.

"MEDIC!" he yelled.

A plasma grenade went off nearby, sending him flying into a boulder. Stars filled his vision and there was a ringing noise in his ears. Time seemed to slow, he saw Hightower yelling at him, but Perez couldn't quite make out what he was trying to say.

Perez shook his head trying to clear it, slowly time seemed to resume to its normal pace and he could hear clearly. He raised his rifle and fired a trio of bursts at a group of Grunts that ventured too close. One Grunt primed a grenade before taking a burst in the face, dropping it. The grenade detonated and engulfed the remaining aliens in a flash of brilliant blue.

Perez ran, rifle in hand, to a squad of stranded soldiers.

"Where's a fuckin medic?" he yelled.

"I'm a medic." A scrawny red-headed Marine answered.

Perez grabbed him by the shoulder, "Ok, you come with me, I got something for you to do."

The red-head motioned to the other two Marines, "What about them?"

"They got legs don't they? Come on lets get the fuck outta here!"

The ragtag squad of a medic, a Ranger, and two Marines made their way back to the wounded sniper.

"Christ he's fucked pretty bad." The medic said after looking the wounded man over.

"We need to get him to a medical station in the next thirty minutes or he's gonna be in trouble."

Perez looked around for Hightower, and found him firing away madly with his sniper rifle. Perez walked up next to him and shot a Jackal in the face. The Jackal fell on its back and started twitching.

"We need to call in an evac or we're toast." He told Hightower grimly.

"Don't I know it, I'm almost out of ammo."

Perez checked his own rifle, he only had one clip left, plus the half empty one in the rifle.

"Same here 'mano."

Just then, two Elites charged the pair. One Elite hit Perez in the side of the head, sending him sprawling to the ground. The other Elite knocked Hightower's rifle from his hand. Hightower pulled his sidearm and unloaded it in the Elite's face. The warrior's shield flickered and died as the last rounds tore through its face.

The other Elite saw this and howled in rage. He activated his energy sword and lunged at Hightower. Hightower saw this and tried to dodge but was too slow. The blade cut into his arm, causing him to howl in pain. The Elite's mandible split into what could have been a grin, and raised the sword over his head.

Suddenly shots rang out and the Elite stumbled forward, shields flaring. Perez had gotten back up and was unloading his .357 in the back of the Elite. The Elite turned as Perez fired off the last shot. The Elite's shields died but the alien kept coming. Perez pulled his knife out of its sheath on his leg, and threw it at the alien. The knife lodged itself between the Elite's eyes, and the alien warrior fell to its knees, and then fell face down.

Perez walked over to Hightower and offered him a hand. Hightower groaned as he was pulled to his feet.

"Let me see that." Perez said.

Hightower shrugged him off, "It's not that big of a deal, I'll get patched up when help arrives.

Perez noticed that the gunfire had ceased and looked around. The canyon was empty with the exception of the UNSC forces and the dead bodies of Covenant. But the victory had came at a price, the sniper that Perez had sought help for was dead, along with five other men. Perez gathered each casualty's tags and put them in his pocket.

Suddenly Perez's radio cackled to life, "This is Echo 419 to any UNSC forces, I repeat this is Echo 419 to any UNSC forces, please respond."

Perez keyed his mike, "Echo 419 this is fire team Bravo, we have wounded and need immediate extraction."

"Copy that fire team Bravo, I'm on my way."

Perez walked over to Hightower, who was leaned against a rock and breathing heavily, "Get everybody ready, we're getting the hell out of here."

Hightower raised his good arm in a mock salute, "Yes sir Mr. Ranger sir!"

Perez smiled and walked away, he then noticed that someone was missing.

"Where the hell is Lankers and the swabbie tag a long?" Perez asked.

A nearby private answered, "I dunno sir, we looked for him after the fightin was over, but we didn't find him, maybe he got captured."

"I pray to God we're that lucky." Perez said.

The private smiled and continued helping wrap up the wounded. After a few minutes the sound of a Pelican's engines were heard and the pilot's voice crackled on Perez's radio, "Howdy boys, this is Foehammer on station and ready for pick up."

"Damn to good to hear from you Foehammer, now get us the hell outta here!" Hightower said.

Foehammer laughed, "Calm down you damn Jarhead, patience is a virtue."

"Patience my ass!" Hightower exclaimed, "I got a fuckin hole in my arm the size of a damn tree and she tells me to be patient!"

Perez laughed, "Down boy."

In fifteen minutes fire team Bravo was loaded onto the Pelican and making their way to the new base.

"I picked a hell of a time to join up with you assholes." Perez said to Hightower.

Hightower laughed, "Yeah but look at it this way, would you be havin this much fun where you came from?"

Perez thought for a minute, "Yeah, I wouldn't be seventy fuckin lightyears away from home."

"Welcome to the UNSC buddy!" The two soldiers laughed so hard their sides hurt as the Pelican descended on a landing pad at the UNSC base on Halo.

**A/N: Like a bad case of herpes, I'm back! Sorry for the long update but alot of stuff has been happenin around and here but i promise ill try and update more often. Anyway, tell me what you think, id love to see some reviews!**


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